Yemenia Coffee
A gloomy past but there’s likely to be a different narrative for the future.
I first tasted coffee from Yemen on a cupping table when I worked for a roastery here in Cape Town. It was always an intriguing profile that wasn’t something I’d normally look for in a coffee if I’m honest. It also had a taste not known to me at the time.
As always when there’s something new to me about coffee I try let that experience live for a while as these moments never go to waste.
I’d like to think this & several other moments tasting Yemenia coffee led me to a place where I thought to myself, what is Yemen's profile and terroir?
The coffee I had recently was a haraz seed type, washed process, roasted on a sample roaster (Ikawa) using a light roast profile. I didn’t think I’d enjoy coffee from this country as I have always thought it’s not my kind of preference. However, this experience still stuck with me regardless of my preference.
Although I have never managed to place its flavor structure well in my head among all the other coffee profiles of different terroir & varieties that I’ve tasted in recent years. This is still an amazing reality & a weird compliment to coffee from Yemen.
Qima coffee is an establishment that is rewriting a different story for the nation of Yemen amongst all of the challenges the country has in growing and producing coffee.
If you searched online what coffee from Yemen typically tastes like, you’d find descriptions like “earthy, aromatic & complex.”
This is true but not the only flavors you’ll find as I’ve tasted a number of different coffees from Yemen. This specific experience provided by Qima was extremely - elegant, vibrant, rich with tropical fruit notes topped with hints of chocolate in taste.
It was brewed with a (V60) manual filter brew. Thoroughly enjoyed this offering. I’m learning continually that coffee tends not to enjoy being boxed in at all, and this is an impressive aspect of coffee.
This is interesting to me as I have heard coffee from this region being compared to & described alongside the traditional “Indonesian profile” of coffee which isn’t far fetched (at times) but is just rather more dismissive & unfair to both origins really.
Why could this be interesting for the world?
Yemen is not the birthplace of coffee like Ethiopia but is a part of the world with rich history of coffee growing & trading. Studies claim the world wouldn’t know coffee commercially or globally as it is now.
“In other words, arabica coffee originated in Ethiopia, but spread via Yemen.” - World Coffee Research.
Rewriting a narrative that was once lost isn’t an easy task. However, it is a noble one as the coffee industry is often required to perform tough tasks which is a lifelong learning experience and commitment.
Yet another study claimed that Yemen contains unique genetic diversity not found elsewhere in the world.
What does this mean? And should Yemeni coffee be more accessible?
Well there are several takeaways we can all draw from regarding coffee from Yemen. Firstly, I’d like to encourage everyone to taste it (if you haven't already) more than twice in whatever format. Preferably it is always advisable to taste newer coffee in the same you most enjoy drinking your every day coffee.
I’ve tasted the coffee in different methods and it’s worth having more of for sure and due to the volume of Yemeni farmers, recent civil peace status & long lost history of Yemeni coffee I’m not sure if we will have coffee from there being readily accessible like other nations.
There is considerable cause of excitement in the fact that genetically Yemen is uniquely diverse to a certain extent. This could mean we taste & experience flavor sensations we have never tasted before in the future.
Renewal comes after crisis in many ways & forms and this is something to hold onto for the nation. There’s good reason to be both pessimistic or upbeat about the years ahead for coffee producing countries in general.
Yemen has the potential to showcase exceptional quality and this origin has a distinct profile that caters for all avid coffee drinkers. Thank you for your interest in the world of coffee. I’ll attach an image of the rare & tasty coffee I brewed & enjoyed from Qima. If you would like to read more about Yemen please comment below and I’ll attach links too. Have a great day.
Fascinating stuff!
Very interesting. Is it in the US?